


The Unfortunate Happenings Involving the Color Blue

by CourtneyEllen



Category: Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, sad beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 23:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15896283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourtneyEllen/pseuds/CourtneyEllen
Summary: it all started with the color blue.the color of calm and inspiration. to jade jackson, however, it has a whole other meaning.





	The Unfortunate Happenings Involving the Color Blue

It all started with the color blue.

The color of calm and inspiration. The color of the sky and the ocean, both so vast that there was no end in sight. A color that strikes people as tranquil, like waves gently lapping against the sand as the sun rises in the distance. To most people the color blue is a positive color with a sense of hopefulness to it. To Jade Jackson, however, it has a whole other meaning.

Blue to her was melancholic, enforcing her sense of loneliness. Even a vibrant turquoise had her feeling isolated from her peers, the color building walls between her and the world. The blue of the ocean was so dark that instead of security she felt hopelessness. A color of inspiration turns to ash in her mouth and unshed tears. Never was she calm when any shade of sapphire presented itself. But like most stories, it did not use to be this way. She used to love blue, in fact it was her favorite color.

Jade Jackson was your typical high school senior back when she loved blue. The color was peaceful to her and created a bubble of protection around her whenever she had even a spec of the shade on her person. Confidence poured from her whenever blue was in the equation. Or perhaps maybe that confidence came from her best friend, a boy who also happened to like blue.

Josh Dun, a senior like herself who spent most of his time either playing his drums or talking about the existence of aliens and whether or not Taco Bell was the best place in the world to eat, was her best friend. They had been friends since their childhood and would have continued to be such to this day had it not been for the color blue.

It had been a stupid, late night conversation when the color had been mentioned.

"Hey JJ, what's your favorite color?"

It was a simple question at the time and she wasted no time in responding with a soft "Blue." Had she known what would have happened with the simple utterance of that color, she would have never responded. She would have made something else up. She would have told him that aliens were not real and listened to him rant until three in the morning - trust her it has happened before - rather than have what happens next come about.

After the unfortunate conversation of the dreaded color, Jade did not think much at the time when Josh came to school the next day, his dark curls bleached and dyed a very cotton candy like blue. If you want to be technical she would say that it was a cadet blue, though there was some blonde mixed in from where he did not get the dye spread evenly.

"J, what have you done to your hair!" She had exclaimed - and yes they call each other J and JJ - shooting up from her position on the ground in front of her locker and running her fingers through the dyed hair. She had run her fingers through his hair before, but it felt different now because of the bleach. It wasn't as thick or curly as it had been before, the bleach already killing some of the hair. Had she known this would be her last time running her fingers through his hair, she would have catalog in depth just exactly how the dyed hair felt.

"Had to make sure you actually liked something about me," he was teasing, his eyes crinkled up and pink tongue poking out through his teeth. He had the type of grin that showed all of his teeth as he lightly bit down on his tongue. It was a sight that anyone should be lucky to see in their lifetime. Jade had been lucky to have seen it for the first eighteen years of her lifetime.

"There isn't a thing I don't like about you," her voice was soft, insecurity and nerves filling her. You see, this is the cliché where a guy and girl are best friends and one loves another but is too afraid to speak. Usually these end with the best friends getting together. Sadly, the color blue is what turns this love story into a tragedy.

It had been a week before the one person that Jade loathed more than anything appeared on the arm of  ** _her_** best friend. Debby Ryan. Cheerleader, teacher's pet, and overall the girl that everyone loves and hates at the same time. Jade did not like her for the sole fact that Debby did not let Jade try out for the cheerleading team back in freshman year - you see Debby was held back a year and was actually a year old than Jade and Josh. Debby had claimed that Jade's awkward body of long limbs and her glasses would be a hindrance to the team and keep them from finals. Jade has since grown into her body and lost the glasses, but Debby reminded her with scathing looks and heated glares that Jade was still not welcomed among the cheerleaders.

And it was fine. Jade did not have any wish to be a part of their group anymore. She had Josh. The same Josh who knew exactly what Debby had done in freshman year - and consoled her after she had run away crying - and was now pressing his lips to the cheerleader's cheek and grinning like a man in love.

To say the blade that was stabbed in her hurt would be a lie. When Jade processed what she was seeing, she was numb. Her breathing had stopped, her palms grew sweaty, her fingers trembled, and even her hearing faded out. She stared at her best friend in shock, not believing what she was seeing.

"JJ?" A soft voice broke through the rushing water in her ears, her head snapping to attention to stare at Josh, betrayal written on her face. "You know Debby right?" He said, smiling at just the mention of the cheerleader, like her name on his lips could cure the world of its problems. Jade nodded faintly, eyes trailing to the other girl. Smugness was all she saw in the pug-like face of Debby and was that her arm tightening around Josh's? Jade's stomach twisted like a war was raging within it.

"Of course she does! We go way back, don't we  ** _JJ_** ," Debby's voice cut off any response that Jade was prepared to make. The blonde had simply nodded once more, unsure of how to get the muscles in her jaw to unclench. Why was this happening to her? What had she done to cause the universe to hate her? She wasn't a bad person, she always tried to do good onto others and treat them how she wanted to be treated. This is what she gets for that?

"See you still have those long limbs, bet you can grab any can from a high shelf," Debby's tease was more of an underhanded comment, the blade in her back twisting when Josh's chuckle followed the statement.

"'Course she can! That's why I always bring her shopping with me," Josh laughed along, not even realizing how Jade's trembling had progressed, her body shaking now. It was slight tremors, though if they were out of anger or another emotion, Jade still did not know to this day.

"How did you two meet?" Jade's voice was shaky, having used her strong will to unclench her jaw and not throw up when she had done so. Josh beamed at her, as if he had finally gotten her to talk by unknowingly making fun of her.

"Debby here approached me in math and asked what hair dye I used for my hair, said she wanted that tint," whatever Josh had said next is lost in the history books, as Jade focused on the one aspect of his sentence. His hair dye. If he had never dyed his hair, Debby wouldn't have noticed him. If she had not told him that her favorite color was blue, Josh would still be **her**  best friend and not  **Debby's**  boyfriend. The rushing water was back tenfold now, blocking out any noise that could have anchored her to Josh's words and the world around her.

It was her fault. Her favorite color was blue and that's what Josh dyed his hair to. Blue. Blue. Blue. BLUE.

"JJ, are you okay?" The touch on her forearm caused her hearing to come back and she yanked her arm away as if he had burned her. "Jade, what's wrong?" Josh was concerned she could hear it, but she could only focus on two things. Blue and Jade. Josh hadn't called her Jade since middle school.

"I have to go," she rushed out, turning on her heel so fast that her blonde hair may have whipped the couple in the face before she took off. People stared at her as she passed, though tears blurred her vision. She may have bumped into about five people, but it did not stop her from her goal. The bathroom.

Slamming through the doors, Jade had barely made it to a stall before she was dry heaving into the school's toilet. Time passed and she has no clue how long she spent kneeling on the floor before someone got up the nerve to open the door to see what had happened.

"Jesus," the voice was like chocolate syrup poured over an ice cream sundae. Long arms gently pulled her from the unsanitary object and into a strong chest. Josh had not been the one to run after her... She did not even know who was holding her and rocking her as she cried into their chest, but she had never felt safer. The feeling of the arms was better than the color blue, the now tainted hue that plagued her nightmares. The cocoon of warmth held her for a long time, soft humming slowly easing her tears until they were few.

"Hey." Long piano fingers, tilted her chin up towards the speaker. Instantly her own green eyes met chocolate brown and in that moment she knew that brown had become her favorite color. The warmth would replace the ice. "Can you tell me your name?" The boy spoke softly, as if she was a deer and anything louder would spook her and honestly it just might in the moment.

"Jade," her reply was soft, still staring deeply into those pools of warm chocolate. His thin lips stretched into a smile and she felt her heart flutter. Maybe this was the universe giving back to her?

"I'm Brendon," he introduced. She liked the sound of it. He looked like a Brendon. "Now, can you tell me, Ms. Jade, why are you sitting on the floor in the boy's bathroom?" He asked calmly, though he looked as if he was about to laugh at the situation.

Laughter filled the quiet room and Jade realized that it had erupted from her own mouth, her chest aching with the severity of her laughter. Brendon stared at her for a minute before he too joined in.

Brendon and Jade never left each other's sides after that fateful day, the boy always there holding her tightly whenever her once best friend would try to reconcile with her. Even Brendon agreed that Josh sucked for what he had done to Jade. Jade still missed her blue haired friend - even after he changed his hair color to the different shades of the rainbow - but the loneliness of blue no longer haunted her.

Even months, years,later when she had her own children and husband - Brendon since she was his rock as he was hers - did she let blue plague her. No, she was filled with the warmth of brown and the sense of home she felt only in Brendon's arms. While it started with dark, isolating blue, Jade's story ended in warm, loving brown. 

**ØØØØØ**

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my first work for my english class this semester! so i hope you guys are ready for a lot of updates that are not my actual stories! i hope you guys enjoy this and let me know what you think about this below!
> 
> also come talk to me at my tumblr, scarycis !


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